This is the first progressive rock concept album from Lyrian, originally issued in 2008.

About the band.  Lyrian was formed in 2006 by three wrinkled halflings. John Blake plays lead guitar, guitars and sings; Alison Felstead plays bass and sings; and Paul W. Nash plays keyboards, guitars, woodwinds, percussion and sings too. All the songs are written by Nash and Blake. The band name is derived from Lyra, the Latin lyre, with its associations with lyric poetry and music. It is also (almost) “librarian” without a bra. The members of the band have all worked as lybrarians.

About the album. The eight prog-rock songs that make up Nightingale Hall tell the story of a country house and its denizens over the course of a century. There is gentility, brutality, tragedy, irony, lunacy, sanity, luminosity and mystery in unequal measure. There are also lots of twiddly bits, and, in true prog-rock tradition, some very long songs indeed. The album runs for a glorious 75 minutes. It has touches of early Genesis, Pink Floyd, Yes, Jethro Tull and Marillion, with classical and antiquarian undertones and a self-consciously “home-made” aesthetic. The first pressing of Nightingale Hall had a cover hand-printed at the Strawberry Press and illustrated with a multi-colour wood-engraving by Nash (who designed all the artwork for the album). Subsequent pressings reproduce one of the original covers, as shown above.

A review or two. The album has been described as "a work of genius" by Philip (at yesfans.com) who adds that it is "already in line to be my album of the year after a mere half a dozen listens. Imagine a blend of that prime early Genesis and classic Barclay James Harvest with a smidgen of Gryphon in there too. It's a concept album as well. It is beautifully packaged with a woodcut cover, and a little certificate for the purchaser in there too". Jeff Perkins said (at blogcritics.org) "As ideas for albums go this one really got my imagination working overtime. Nightingale Hall is a concept album in its truest sense. Oxfordshire’s Lyrian take us back through a fascinating, sometimes enchanting, and sometimes disturbing journey written around the history and previous occupants of Nightingale Hall itself ... There are unashamed nods to early Genesis among shades of early Fish-era Marillion. That combines together nicely with some quintessentially English tradition, including church organs meshed with some folk and even classical elements ... As I traveled back through Nightingale Hall’s gallery of characters they came alive, stepping off the canvas and into a nicely constructed piece of progressive rock".

A review at http://www.musikreviews.de/reviews/2009/Lyrian/Nightingale-Hall/ in German, by Nils Herzog, included the following (here in English translation): "Lyrian have invested their heart's blood in this album ... The first edition of 500 copies has a cover with wood-engraving by keyboardist Paul W. Nash, finely printed on high-quality paper. This presentation puts many professional products into the shade ... Nightingale Hall is an aesthetic work concerning the human history of the inhabitants of a country house over the course of a century. The instrumentation is rich, full and often classically-inspired, although Lyrian does not sound bombastic. The style leans strongly towards early Genesis and English chamber music, and reminds me in its medieval colouring also of The Fyreworks ... Guitars and keyboards contribute to the artful songs, which are often more like Tudor or early classical music than electric rock. The arrangements are led by the keyboards, which range from clear, concise, webs of sound to the sacred church organs which Progger hearts desire. The high, slightly nasal vocals will not be to everyone's taste, but fit well with the subject of the album: what denizen of a Victorian country house would roar like a leather-jacketed rocker? Blake's voice reminds me of a shy version of Neil Young. Lyrian do not only make beautiful music. Like many British bands, they attach importance to creating a landscape of dark, disturbing, spiritual sound, which sends a shiver down the spine, like the breath of a night-wind on the moon-illuminated hall from whose walls dark portraits of the long-dead look down. The results are very stylish and very British. Those who wish to shake their fists and bang their heads will not like Nightingale Hall. But those who take the time to read the lyrics and immerse themselves in the fantasy of this album, its 75 minutes of visions inside the head, will find it rewarding ... and entirely convincing."

Song listing:

1) Prelude (1.55)

2) Nightingales (17:38)

3) The summerhouse (7.34)

4) He who would valiant be (15.29)

5) The chimes (6.36)

6) The lovers under the tree (10.05)

7) Winter song (2.14)

8) Lucifer (13.34)

Lyrian’s new double-album, The tongues of men and angels, is available now.  For further details see the Medieval Records website at www.medievalrecords.co.uk.